In 1975 the Water Research Commission (WRC) decided that South African
researchers in water science, technology and engineering required a platform
to publish their work, and established and funded the journal.

Water SA is the WRCs accredited scientific journal
which contains original research articles and review articles on all aspects
of water science, technology, engineering and policy.

Water SA
has been in publication since 1975 and includes articles from both local
and international authors. The journal is published quarterly.

From April 2005 onwards Water SA is being published primarily
as an e-journal, with open free access to the published information guaranteed.
The printed version is still available, but is no longer distributed free
of charge.

This journal publishes refereed, original work in all branches of water science, technology, engineering and policy. This includes water resource development; the hydrological cycle; surface hydrology; geohydrology and hydrometeorology; limnology; salinisation; treatment and management of municipal and industrial water and wastewater; treatment and disposal of sewage sludge; environmental pollution control; water quality and treatment; aquaculture in terms of its impact on the water resource; agricultural water; water policy; water economics; water as a social good; etc. Submissions of predominantly local interest outside of Southern Africa (defined for this purpose to include the countries of South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique) are not considered.

The journal has a very wide readership as the water field is multidisciplinary.

The journal publishes 4–5 issues per year.

The journal's abbreviated title is Water SA (Online), which should be used
in bibliographies, footnotes, references and bibliographic strips.

Copying of Water SA material is permitted with full
acknowledgement of source. Commercial use of copied material is not allowed.
Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the Water
Research Commission.